NH's ‘Remorseful Robber’ gets life sentence in Mass. murder

By JASON SCHREIBERUnion Leader Correspondent

WOBURN, Mass. — A Massachusetts man who became known as New Hampshire’s “Remorseful Robber” will spend the rest of his life behind bars after he was convicted Monday in the brutal stabbing death of his girlfriend last year.

.Christopher Piantedosi, 40, of Methuen, was found guilty of murder by deliberate premeditation and extreme atrocity or cruelty and malicious destruction of property by a Middlesex Superior Court jury following a trial that lasted 11 days...Piantedosi was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the murder charge and 20 years probation on the charge of malicious destruction of property.

Piantedosi repeatedly stabbed his girlfriend, Kristen Pulisciano, 38, at their Burlington, Mass., home on the night of May 3, 2012, as their 15-year-old daughter’s friend watched via an iPad video chat...“This was a gruesome attack where the defendant killed Kristen Pulisciano, the mother of his children, by stabbing her 33 times in their daughter’s bedroom,” “Perpetrators of domestic violence seek to exert power and control over their victims. When this defendant saw that he was losing his control over the victim, he violently killed her. This is a tragic case and today, while we are pleased that justice was served, our thoughts are with the victim’s family, as they continue to mourn the loss of Kristen.”..The slaying followed Piantedosi’s arrest by Plaistow, N.H., police in 2011 after he stole from a woman’s purse at a Plaistow Market Basket. Piantedosi later mailed the wallet back to her and then appeared at her house to return her $90, plus an extra $10, with an apology letter along with her stolen GPS and a new charger. Piantedosi signed the letter “Stupid” and was later dubbed the “Remorseful Robber” by police...After pleading guilty to the Plaistow theft, Piantedosi told the New Hampshire Union Leader that he hoped to move on with his life.

“I want to get this over with. This has ruined my life,” he told the paper...At the time, he said he had never stolen before and “that’s not what I do.”

“That was my first rodeo and I had a short career. Professional thieves don’t return their loot,” he said.

Piantedosi also said that he had some financial problems while he was in between jobs after being laid off...Piantedosi found himself back behind bars on murder charges months later.

During the murder investigation, authorities discovered that the victim’s daughter was in the middle of a video chat with her friend in her iPad in the moments before the killing...The daughter ran out of the bedroom when she heard the yelling, authorities said, and then her mother entered the daughter’s bedroom as Paintedosi ran after her with a knife. The video chatting program was still open, which allowed the friend on the other end to witness the killing through the iPad...jschreiber@newstote.com ..